Ready to get our Sushi ingredients together? 
First stop, Tsukiji Fish Market. 
We were met by our tour guide, Toru. He was wonderful. He was more than a tour guide, he was our interpreter, our photographer and he even came out to find us when we were lost. 
Hundreds of fishmongers were haggling over prices and cutting up massive tuna.
They were extra excited to show me the giant tuna eye balls. Toru said the best way to eat them is serve them in soup. Anyone interested in that recipe? Didn’t think so. 
They were also prepping fish to send all over the world, to other sushi lovers like me. See you in California… 
So how do you know if your fish is fresh? Look at the eyeball, if it looks like the one bellow… run. They eyes should be CLEAR. It also shouldn’t smell FISHY, like “wow I can smell that fish from the other side of the room”…that’s fishy business. It should just slightly smell like ocean water. Also, if you are purchasing a whole fish, look inside the fish, there shouldn’t be any dark red blocky patches. If there are, the guts were left inside the body too long and the parasites have start to decompose the body. It is also important to keep fish fresh after you purchase it. I place the fish in a plastic bag, often it’s pre-wrapped, and I place the fish on ice and put in my refrigerator. I won’t keep the fish any longer then 48 hours, but preferably I like to use it in 24 hours.
This guy was in the trash, so it makes sense he wasn’t so fresh…
Sure the giant tuna were very impressive, but I found myself wandering between the stalls enthralled with every type of fish imaginable. Part of me wants to move to Japan just so I can eat their food and learn their techniques all day, every day. 
I wonder if Jiro will give me a job as an apprentice.
I am well on to my way of being a master sushi chef after our Sushi class. Can’t wait to share everything we learned in my next post. 
Small Taste Of Adventure 
Awesome photos! I enjoyed visiting the Tsukiji fish market too, back when I was living in Japan. (I made one mistake though… and wore flip flops that day.)
Thanks! Wow you lived there? That would be a dream! A friend warned me about flip flops, I was so thankful. I should have mentioned it in the post 🙂
That’s a good friend to warn you about that! 🙂 Although in my case, I think I’d *only* packed a pair of flip flops for my trip, so I couldn’t have done much about that anyway…
I didn’t live in Tokyo– though I’ve probably visited Tokyo about ten times now; I lived in far western Japan (Yamaguchi prefecture for 1 year, then Okayama prefecture for 2 more years, near Hiroshima). I absolutely LOVE Japan and go back to visit every chance I get!